The bodies of seven Americans and nine Vietnamese killed Saturday in a helicopter crash while searching for the remains of American servicemen in Vietnam were recovered yesterday.

The Americans were the advance team for a group that was to begin searching six MIA recovery sites in Vietnam in May, according to spokesman for Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, which is based in Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii.

President Bush sent condolences to the families of the victims.

“The families of the service personnel lost in today’s tragic accident know better than most the contribution their loved ones made in bringing closure to scores of families across America,” Bush said.

An investigation into the crash of the chartered Vietnamese military chopper is under way, according to local officials.

Witnesses said the helicopter weaved in the air before slamming into a fog-shrouded mountainside in Quang Binh province, about 280 miles south of Hanoi.

The helicopter was on a detour to the city of Hue, having canceled a stop in Dong Hoi, the provincial capital, because of bad weather.

“I heard the helicopter flying very low. The engine made a big noise, and then we heard a big explosion. It was very foggy, so we couldn’t see very much,” said Nguyen Van Minh, 45.

“It was like during the Vietnam War again, when we ran to see if we could help anyone from the crash.”

Only one man survived long enough to tell Minh he was from the MIA team.

Since 1973, the remains of 591 American service members formerly listed as unaccounted for have been identified and returned to their families.

There are 1,992 Americans still unaccounted for from the war in Southeast Asia, including 1,498 in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry offered its condolences to the U.S. government, its people and the families of the victims, calling the crash “a huge loss to Vietnam, as well as to the United States.”